12 insights that can help change brands' marketing gameplan

GroupM India unveiled its annual This Year Next Year (TYNY) report. From Gen Alpha's rise to AI evolution, here's what marketers need to know.

Increasing influence of Gen-Alpha will drive distinctive marketing strategies

Gen Alpha, born after 2010, now comprises over a quarter of India’s population.

As the most educated and informed generation, their precociousness and maturity surpass previous ones. Approaching their teen years, they influence family purchases beyond their target products.

Covid accelerated their digital reliance, favouring voice and visual interactions over typing.

They're inclusive and socially aware, requiring marketers to tailor strategies for engagement through technology, emphasising voice/video discovery, interactive experiences, gamification, and influencer tactics.

Attention planning - Customising insights for actionability

Marketers are increasingly focused on decoding and optimising targeting outcomes, especially with the emergence of a generation with varying attention spans.

It is becoming imperative to test and frame up the question of how to garner better ROI from media – to - how to optimise the ROI of media for attention.

Understanding attention nuances and tailoring strategies accordingly, based on brand size, is crucial for campaign success.

How will more research on attention planning change the narrative:

• Business growth metrics will it move from loyalty/repeat purchasers to drive the upsell in light buyers and how to get their attention

• This layered with mental availability of the consumer is another key factor that will define the ROI

• In a crowded market space, the need for mental presence along with attention is another big push for brands

• All this layered with right data insights for action

• To strengthen short-term advertising strength of brands because they are media busy in a cluttered space

21% of television homes to be addressable in 2024

Addressable TV has seen phenomenal momentum in recent years, with 34 million connected TV homes by the end of 2023, expected to reach 45 million by 2024, marking a 21% YoY growth. The rise is attributed to increased broadband connectivity, smart TV adoption, and compelling content, particularly major sporting events.

Impressions on connected TV have surged in markets like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana, growing by at least 4.5 times. Additionally, the proliferation of over 200 FAST Channels on OTT platforms and OEM applications has driven cord-cutting trends.

While linear TV becoming addressable was predicted for 2023, progress has been slower, but collaborations in 2024 are expected to drive use cases. TV advertising is increasingly programmatic, with DSPs and SSPs developing CTV solutions to meet rising demand.

For advertisers, addressable TV offers new opportunities, emphasising the importance of Total TV planning.

Sports to focus on immersive experience journeys

Immersive sports experiences have gone from concept to reality, with brands leveraging innovations like stump cameras and virtual reality activations to engage fans.

With further improvements in internet speed and technology (affordable 5G and next-gen

VR headsets), immersive experiences are likely to get better and reach wider audiences.

While some solutions are global-only for now, they hint at future opportunities. Sports offer marketers a chance to innovate across the consumer journey, using data and tech to personalise content and promotions.

Brand marketing becomes more accountable on performance, braking silos

With aggressive growth goals, brands must balance short-term impact with long-term brand longevity.

A shift towards full-funnel measurement, incorporating brand emotions, enhances consumer relevance and clarifies marketing effectiveness.

 A robust data-driven strategy, focusing on ROI-based planning and test-and-learn optimisations, links brand building and acquisition to performance metrics like incremental revenue and customer lifetime value.

This approach alleviates pressure on the lower funnel to sustain business performance under suboptimal conditions.

Step-up on search

Achieving full-funnel marketing performance requires understanding the importance of search, serving as a behavioural insights machine. The digital landscape has expanded to include platforms like Amazon, OTT, YouTube, Quora, and Swiggy. Marketers must navigate this complex ecosystem, leveraging skills in SEO, video production, content marketing, and platform-specific optimisation techniques.

Gathering and interpreting data across platforms is crucial for insights into consumer behaviour and campaign performance. Diversified search strategies need to align with where the target audience spends time and how they interact with different platforms. Each platform requires a tailored content strategy to match its format and audience. While analytics tools help measure performance and understand user behaviour, brands must integrate efforts for consistency in messaging across platforms.

E-commerce drives deeper into organisations

Brands are increasing their e-commerce presence, with the share of total retail expected to rise from 5% to 7%. Marketplaces and commerce platforms serve as discovery hubs, driven by algorithms.

E-commerce advertising tech is booming, providing vital market insights.

Tools providing market intelligence via share of search, availability, competition tracking, user sentiment and ratings are important to take macro decisions to win on the ecommerce race.

Automation tools streamline actions across platforms, with GroupM set to launch Fusion 2.0 in 2024.

India’s general and modern trade getting digitised leading to the rise of omni-channel commerce

In 2024 e-commerce share is expected to be 7% of overall retail trade, but marketers today are spending over 70% time decoding the best strategies on e-commerce.

However, the real big transformative opportunity is the area of brick becoming click.

Lines between eCommerce and General Trade + Modern Retail are blurring.

In 2024, we see a scale-up in digitisation of traditional retail; which starts with basic automation in inventory management and POS systems becoming more mature with collection of customer data; understanding buying patterns, and communicating with customers on WhatsApp, email, SMS, and other channels.

Rapid developments in AI will transform media, messaging and measurement

In 2024, AI's immediate impact will be felt in messaging, media, and measurement:

AI-driven media optimization, like GroupM's Copilot, will enhance predictive capabilities and optimise campaigns across platforms.

AI will strengthen the interplay between medium and message, enabling real-time signal-based creative versioning for personalized messages at scale, as seen with solutions like GroupM's "Create."

Measurement will see significant AI-driven enhancements. Business Intelligence platforms will leverage NLP and Gen AI for pattern recognition and personalised views. Traditional market mix models are shifting towards always-on analytics, focusing on variables interaction. Advanced creative analytics powered by AI will dissect every element of a message to optimize effectiveness.

AI and technology dominate the content landscape and creator economy

AI's role in content creation is rapidly evolving, influencing every stage of the creative process, from identifying consumer preferences to speeding up production and enhancing post-production.

Influencers are leveraging technology to engage consumers throughout the purchase journey with personalised content and recommendations.

Recently, AR Rahman used AI to recreate the voices of legendary singers, sparking ethical debates about AI-generated content.

The importance of niche consumer segments will power the growth of micromarketing

In 2024, expect a surge in "Micro" strategies tailored for the diverse Indian market:

Micro Markets: Granular consumer data will drive targeted distribution and promotion.

Micro Segments: Enhanced insights will enable personalised targeting of consumer preferences.

Micro-Influencers: Authentic micro-communities will wield greater influence in shaping product perception and driving trial.

With consent becoming critical, zero-party data will empower various areas of marketing

While the term “Zero-party Data” was coined over 5 years ago, it is not a new concept.

Marketers have always been obtaining information from consumers through surveys, quizzes, and interviews in exchange for some reward.

With data privacy regulations getting more stringent and the demise of the cookie more imminent in 2024, this information - willingly provided by consumers with full consent for meaningful value exchange – has now attained more importance than ever before.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com